


Emotion

by emilygeow



Category: Original Work
Genre: Emotional, Emotions, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Love, Overwhelmed, excerpt, practice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 12:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7715413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilygeow/pseuds/emilygeow





	Emotion

Sometimes being overwhelmed will suddenly surprise you, like being startled from your sleep by a loud noise outside, the feeling you get when you unexpectedly swallow water while swimming and instinctively gasp for air but can’t get it into your lungs and panic sets in. Sometimes, while still unaware of its presence, it’s a smaller feeling, like the shock of static that runs through your finger when you shut the car door. Easily dismissed but still makes your heart jump. Being overwhelmed can sneak up on you.

Occasionally, you can sense it coming. Not dissimilar to hearing your train approach the station before you see it round the corner on its tracks. If you’ve ever stood on the shore and watched a ripple far out in the sea roll towards land and pick up momentum and height and force and can already picture the wave crashing in on itself before it actually does, then you’ll be familiar with the slow building sensation of being overwhelmed.

The interesting thing about this particular feeling, however it may come about, is that it can be associated with any emotion. Being irritated by a person that particularly gnaws at you until you snap; that’s a slow build of anger. A mother holding their blanketed bundle of joy after an excruciatingly long labour and tiring pregnancy; that’s a growing feeling of love. Being told someone you care about has been in a freak accident and won’t make it through; an overwhelming feeling of loss and pain that you could not have expected.

He was never able to pinpoint how it hit him. How the raw emotion overtook his mind and distorted his common sense. Was this something he had seen coming all along but chosen to ignore? Or was it on the other end of the spectrum and snuck up on him from behind in one fluid movement? He likes to believe it was the latter; that if it were in fact the former he would have done something about it, taken precautions or just been more careful when he saw the signs.


End file.
